Hosts are in some ways an unexpected solid team in the new season. Last season, they were one average team (15th position). They last season had only 3 points more than their opponent. However, in the new season, they showed a lot of things. So, they are currently on 2nd place with just two points less than Racing Club. They have 8-4-1 with a goal difference of 25:12 after 13 rounds in a new season. No doubt, they are a big favorite in...

Orland City FC will be traveling to Providence Park to meet Portland Timbers for its 4th consecutive away match. While Orland doesn't really have much to play for anymore, Portland has everything to play for. Looking at the record, the Timbers are strong at home this season. Taking down Orlando once more at Providence park won't be that difficult.

Santos progressed to the final of the Copa do Brasil (beating Sao Paulo 3-1 in the semi final home leg, winning both legs by that scoreline actually), that now means that they have now scored an incredible three goals or more in NINE straight home games ! I guess that sequence will end soon, but I am not so sure it will be today, with Palmeiras having conceded eght in their last three road games and having played out a very tense Copa semi final of...

Huge game for Sport, they have three of their next four on the road, including trips to two teams battling for Copa spots and sit just two points above the drop zone, with the teams immediately above them in the table having started to pick up their game(s) and points. I have spoken many times about how difficult a venue this is, Recife is a very long trip for almost every team in Brazil ( 5,400 km round trip for PP) and once here...

"Corinthians form has nosedived, they looked firm title contenders through the first 14 games, had 28 points in the bag and were in second place, they have taken just 13 points from the last 14 and are down in 7th, seven points off Copa Libertadores pace and with six teams above them. They might soon be in a position where it will all be about the Copa do...

Atletico are 6th, six points behind Santos in fourth place, but with 4th and 5th meeting ( see above) they will close up on one or both with all three points this evening and given that they are 11-2-1 at home, where they have conceded only five goals and with 54% +home wins in the league, it is difficult not to see them as value to do so at close to even money ! They actually have very good fixtures remaining and their next eight...

Chicago Fire did finally break that dismal road record last month winning 3-0 in Montreal, their first away win in 37 attempts and more than 25 months, you might think that would have kick started a sequence, but no, they have lost their two subsequent road games by a combined 10-3 ! They sit bottom of the East, a win tonight would not change that and you suspect rebuilding for next season will be well underway and any remaining energies saved...

Timbers are getting everything together for a big run at the MLS Cup which they won last year, a fantastic achievement for a club who only played their first MLS game in 2011. They came on strong after a slow start in 2015, 3 wins from their opening 12 starts, 12 from their final 22 and they are building up a head of steam currently, being unbeaten in nine and, after conceding far too freely early season, back to back road cleansheets at Rapids and...

Ahead of their home game with Columbus Crew in the previous round ,I spoke about how seriously Chicago Fire have always taken the US Open Cup...........

"We have a full midweek round in Brazil starting tomorrow and are at the last 16 stage of the US Open Cup, with two of those matches being played today, the rest on Wednesday. The Chicago Fire- Columbus Crew game being played tonight is not without interest, the host have...

I previewed Houston's trip to Orlando last weekend when my notes included ..............

"Dynamo replaced Owen Coyle with Wade Barrett for the rest of this season at the end of May and he has quickly make tightening up what was a leaky defence a priority and with him at the helm Houston have conceded just six goals in seven starts, after allowing 1.62 per game under Coyle. They are coming off a 1-0 home win over highflying Philadelphia Union, who...

Chapecoense were very disorganized last round and lost 5-1 away at Sport Recife . They acted quickly afterwards to appoint a new coach, but he has had no real time to work with his players, they will be starting their third game with a different coach inside 8 days and they have clocked up a lot of air miles in the last 10 days and they need a free midweek ( which they will get next week) just to regroup.

Rapids have been the surprise package of the season and lead the Western Conference with an avergae of over 2 points per game and having conceded a MLS low 11 goals . They are on an eleven match unbeaten run and have conceded more than a single goal just once in sixteen 2016 starts in all competitions. They arrive here on the back of a 2-1 home win over Chicago Fire at the weekend, they have not left the altitude of Colorado for a month and should...

Easy to see goals here, last three h2h meetings have gone "over". Atletico have conceded 14 in their last six starts, including four at Sport Recife which we have discussed in the previews below and have not kept a clean sheet in eight, six of Ponte Preta's last seven starts have produced three or more goals. The hosts have the option of bringing back Cazares and Erazo into the squad after the pair returned from Copa America this week...

New England will be looking to bounce back from a 4-2 home loss to FC Dallas and for new and very expensive striker Kei Kamara to start gelling with the talented Revolution midfield. This is a mini transition period for NER as they try to play to get the best out of their new front man who had 31 goals in 46 appearances for Columbus Crew, but now that he has 180 minutes of game time under his belt and Revolution a second free midweek in...

These two met in the reverse fixture in Salt Lake just two weeks. Real to work hard to win that 2-1 and lost 1-0 at MLS leading Colorado Rapids last weekend, not really any shame in that and Real had six attempts on target and dominated all passing and possession stats in the final third, especially after the break and really ought to have got something from that. They are ending games strongly and I see that giving them a big advantage here with...

This is the one Wednesday game where one of the teams is not only clocking up the air miles, but are travelling coast to coast, West to East, for just a single midweek fixture. Portland have played six of their seven matches on the West Coast this season, either at home in Oregon, or in California, the other was a quick hop out East to face Orlando City where they lost 4-1. They had a 15 days break prior to that game, so I doubt that it...

Last round Toronto won 2-0 in the Big Apple, courtesy of two late goals , including a first of the season from star front man Sebastian Giovinco, he also laid on the second and now has "just" the 23 goals and 16 assists from 34 MLS starts, a scoring contribution every 73.5 minutes ! He came up short in two of three games against NYFC last season, but had an hat-trick and assist in a 4-4 draw here in the other, so you cannot keep a good man down for...

Goias are only ahead of Coritiba on goal difference and the truth is that it is going to be very tough for either team to survive without winning this game and especially Goias who have two really difficult looking road games up next, but neither seems capable of keeping a clean sheet and they will have to step up offensively to earn the three points. Both teams have seen 5 of their last six starts produce at least three goals and neither has a kept a...

New York were the best regular season team in the MLS, clinching the Supporters Shield with a final day regular season win at Chicago Fire. my notes for which are reproduced at the foot of this email and they also include a few remarks on DCU who had played Fire the week before. They won the first leg 1-0 and will progress tonight with a draw of course, by the way, the away goal rule applies to all play off games (but not after extra...

Not an awful lot to add really. Trips to Corinthians and Santos are tough for anyone, let alone back to back inside three days and should be too much for one of the poorer sides in the league, especially when they will be facing a home side desperate to claim back their hard earned top 4 ranking. Santos' road form leaves a lot to be desired, but...